Prevalence of Violence Among Teenagers

Youth violence occurs all of the world. Some cases are more serious than others. I have encountered youth violence many times. One time I encountered youth violence was a couple years ago when a cop held his family hostage. Later he came out with a gun and threatened to shoot at the police, who were on the soon to become crime scene. The cop then proceeded to go inside and murder his six-year-old son and his wife. After this occurred, he set his house into flames and committed suicide. This act of violence has affected my life, made me think about what I can do about youth violence, and causes of youth violence.

Teenage murders may be unprecedented, but violence is not. The past has followed us right up to today. Several national magazines recently ran alarming stories about the epidemic of criminal and group violence. Rolling Stone in "A Pistol-Whipped Nation" and both Time and Newsweek ran alarming cover stories about the "virtual epidemic of youth violence." Newsweek's "Teen Violence: Wild in the Streets," decried the number of young people carrying guns, using them, being shot, and being killed. Accompanying all this was a casual if not blase attitude indicating that, as one expert quoted in Time put it, "Violence is hip right now."

Juvenile gun violence is an ever-increasing problem in our country. With a wave of school shooting behind us it is time to get this under control. Many studies have been done on how to effectively diminish juvenile gun violence. It is clear that this must be handled on a state and local level with the federal government backing the states. Prevention and law enforcement is the key to successfully eradicate our nation of the ugly stain caused by youth gun violence.

In 1998, among youth ages 10 to 19 in the United States, there were 2,601

     Ever since the terrible tragedy at Columbine High School, there has been a numerous list of recent school shootings in America. Youth violence is a major issue in today’s society. Many people dread what causes adolescents to be so violent, committing horrible crimes.     

The starting point of violence takes place in communities and at home--not at school. Youth take what they hear and see at home and in their communities to school. The environment in some communities and households are positive and the presences of protective factors outweigh the high risk factors. However, there are communities and households where there is a lack of informal social control and high risk factors exist more than protective factors--, which affect youth in a negative manner.

Teenage gun violence is caused by individuals between the ages of 13- 19. This type of violence is at an all-time high. It is becoming a serious problem, especially with such a rapid growth of violent technology displaying more troubled teens leading to more teen deaths involving the

Researchers have found that adolescent murders tend to be not only violent, but extremely violent. One teen murderer stabbed his victim forty-six times (Kreiner 41). Josh McDowell, in his book Right from Wrong says, “Today’s youth are not playing loud music and wearing radical hairstyles; they have graduated, it seems, to a level of adolescent aggression, promiscuity, cynicism, and violence that bristles the hair on parents’ necks” (McDowell 6). The most significant change in the youth has been in their attitudes. The new generation is more inclined to resort to violence over trivial issues or for no apparent reason. Violent juvenile crime is now a national epidemic and is predicted to get worse. The group most associated with juvenile violence in America is males aged fifteen to nineteen. Statistics show that this segment of the male population will increase by 30 percent by the year 2020 (Grapes

Teen Violence is a big dilemma in today’s society. Violent behaviors usually start from family and peers, as well as teens observing it at there neighborhoods or communities. These behaviors are reinforced by what youth see on television, on the Internet, in video games, movies, music videos, and what they hear in their music. When children are disciplined with severe corporal punishment or verbal abuse, or when they are physically or sexually abused, or when they witness such behavior in their home, it is not surprising that they behave violently toward others. Teen Violence has had such an impact in our youth today that it leads many destructive things and that’s why we have so much violence today.

Throughout time, society has seen its fair share of crime from miniscule crimes to the most serious types of offenses like murder and rape. Violence can come from all shape and sizes from women, men, children, mentally ill, etc. An increasing problem in recent decades include juvenile violence. Juveniles can commit violence for an infinite amount of reasons like parental abuse, being bullied in school or peers, mental illness, and other outside factors. Juvenile are in a period in their lives where countless aspects can influence the way they think, act, and even speak. Criminological theories have been created and tested to factor why juveniles partake in crime and why do they tend to be influenced to continuously break the law. Theories

Teen violence is a term used to define collective behaviors by teenagers that are not acceptable by the society. These behaviors range from slapping, bullying, hitting, assault and even armed robbery. Teen violence has been affecting many societies and has destructive history to communities. Although many factors have been pointed out to cause teen violence, studies show that modeling behaviors are the most common causes of teen violence in the society. These include behaviors as seen in the movies, on the streets, on the video games and at home. Social engineering factors and psychology behind teen violence are some of the main challenges contributing to teen violence. Video games, in particular, have caused the prevalence

In the article, Family Management, and Youth Violence: Are Parent or Community More Salient?, Maria Joao Lobo from Westat and Eileen M. Ahlin from Penn State Harrisburg studies four family management strategies and community influence on youth. The four family management strategies are supervision, discipline, restrictiveness, and familiarity with child’s peers. The data is collected on three cohorts of youths ages 9 to 19 from the PHDCN, and the data is analyzed by using HLM. The results are harsh disciplining practices increase violence by 33%. In the community youth who was unsupervised show a decrease of violent behavior by 40%. Also, the youth violence is influenced by family management than community influences. The article supports my

The relationships at home that shapes an individual in a negative way, causes more chances for that individual to commit a crime. The media shapes an individual personality, beliefs and social norms from a very early age. Negative representations how through movies, television programs and magazines can enforce an individual to commit negative actions. For example, violent movies with criminal content can pressure someone to carry on the same actions as seen in the movie. These wrong influences can lead to high criminal behavior. In fact, “over 125,000 teens from ages 12-17 years were accused by police in 2012” (Perreault, 2013, pg.19). Furthermore, poor economy in specific regions can influence crime between an individual. Living in a poor neighbourhood, and not being able to provide for oneself and their family, can lead to high criminal behavior in that region. Researchers have “suggested that youths living in neighborhoods with higher rates of violent crime incidents are affected by the violence that they witness or experience and that they are influenced by the violent attitudes of some neighborhood residents” (Charron, 2011, pg.21). In addition, living in poor home conditions and a bad neighborhood can influence an individual to commit crime. Factors such as financial issues and not being able to provide for their

            From a scientific standpoint, however, defined causes for youth violence simply have not been found. In fact, a study of youth violence held in 2014, focusing around candid conversation with youths between the ages 14 and 22 who had been involved in violent behavior and fights about the causes of youth violence, found “...no predominant cause of violence emerged from the discussion” (Cheng, et al. 288). Simply put, evidence pointing out any primary cause of youth violence does not exist. With mental illness, poor lifestyle choices, hostile environments, ineffective parenting, and peer pressure all playing roles, one must consider whether violent media and entertainment are primary causes of youth violence. Even if sufficient evidence existed to prove violent media was a significant factor in causing youth violence, one cannot claim that it causes more youth violence than other

This suggests why some sociologists may believe that juveniles with parents have little control over violent behavior and who learn violence from aggressive peers, tend to participate in violent crime themselves.